Flip of a coin
by Olive nerd
Summary: Here are one-shots about Cherik friendship or slash. Reviews are greatly appreciated, and I know I've just embraced my inner geek. Spoilers are included. Rated T for profanity and violence
1. Flip of a coin

Flip of a coin

**Warning: I do not own X Men or anything seen here. Please see the film to understand this. And yes, I meant to give this one-shot and all one-shots here this exact name, "Flip of a coin".**

"I'm so bored!"

Erik glowered at the complaint. He, with Charles, just picked up the whiner of the day and younger mutant, Alex Summers, from army prison camp. They were heading home with their new addition to the "family", (as Moira amiably put it,) and all that the cellmate had done on the flight back and on the car ride to Xavier's manor was complain.

"We're almost home," Charles mentioned from the driver's seat.

Beautiful silence greeted them until Alex asked, "you two aren't getting hitched, right?" Charles almost swerved the car into a thicket, and Erik grabbed his right shoulder.

"N-no!" Charles brushed off Erik's hand and resumed keeping his eyes peeled on the road. Erik tore his eyes off Charles to look disapprovingly at Alex.

"What made you come to such an assumption? Didn't your parents ever teach you not to make ridiculous assumptions about strangers? No wonder you were in jail…"

"He's just a boy, Erik. He's not doing anything wrong."

Alex's smirk disappeared suddenly, and he rolled his eyes and hung his head. "You argue like them, too, along with your similar attitudes, I mean…"

Charles perked up at this new stream of information. "Them?"

"My parents. Before I was sealed in that cell, they, um, died in a *plane crash." Both of the older mutants foresaw a breakdown, and Alex's eyes began to look watery. But shortly after his face contorted, his eyes traveled to a penny sandwiched between seat cushions. Alex freed the penny and began flipping it.

"Put that down," Charles urged. The metal-bender hit his shoulder.

"Will you relax, Charles?" He mimicked Charles' British accent and cooed, "Alex isn't doing anything wrong."

"You are forgetting that we don't know much about his accessibility to self control. He may get out of hand under least expected circumstances."

"A penny." Charles nodded affirmatively.

"At least we have ten minutes left until we reach home."

A weird but amusing idea overcame Alex, and he told them slyly, "head and you two kiss; tails and I shut up." Both men up front looked at each other then Alex.

"You must have been very, very bored in jail," Erik murmured, "thinking two men kissing is entertaining."

"A new experience has its perks," Alex added, shrugging. "And I happen to know that you two are very, very busy and would want a silent kid to babysit for once, silent at least until I hit the place."

"Will you be silent either way," Charles wondered as he glanced at Alex from the rearview mirror. "Heads or tails?"

"Yes…" Alex smirked again, this time right at Erik. "Mom."

"Don't get smart! Here!" Impulsively, Erik gave Charles a chaste kiss. Pleased with himself, Alex then flipped the coin and smacked it against his knuckles.

"You know I didn't even flip the coin yet, right?"

"Whatever happens in this car-" Erik stared fervently at the flustered man beside him, breathless and feeling dimwitted. "-Stays in this car."

None of them men had ever been through a more silent ride home after that. As Charles and Erik hopped out of the vehicle, Alex ran his calloused fingers over the penny. The face of Abraham Lincoln greeted him, as did the X-Mansion.

"I think I'm not going to be bored here."

***This, I believe was what happened in the original comics. X-Men fanatics, please correct me if I'm wrong. **


	2. Blue

Blue

**Erik's P.O.V. to Charles**

Blue

Water, Cold, Deadly, Icy, Evil,

Penetration, Isolation, Invasion, Humiliation,

Forceful, Noticeable, Rigid,

Gentle, Compacted

New

Sky, Blank, Bland, Unwavering, Enigmatic,

Deception, Evaporation, Persuasion, Hesitation,

Odd, Amusing, Relieving,

Rage, Serenity,

True

Sapphires, Pure, Twinkling, Likable, Naive,

Gratification, Temptation, Tension, Interruption,

Dangerous, Calculating, Strategic,

Eternal, Promising,

Glue

Ocean, Trying, Flying, Falling, Crying,

Eruption, Frustration, Precipitation, Reflection,

Flawed, Forgiving, Ascetic,

Omnipresent, Loving,

You,

Charles


	3. New inmates in Gotham

New inmates in Gotham

**XMFC/Batman Trilogy crossover**

**This was just an idea I had. Evil Cherik**

Gotham City Police Department, 2:14 PM

"Why must you where a helmet?"

Magneto grinned predatorily at the cop entering the closed space. "You know how we appreciate our loved ones when they're servile."

It took willpower, the shackles on both his wrists, and the shiny diamond on Professor X's left ring finger for him to not strangle Magneto.

"When this helmet is removed, I will kill you."

"You said that when I stole the helmet for you," exclaimed Magneto.

"Men," Commissioner James Gordon barked before clearing his throat and glancing over his latest documents about the pair. "I don't mean to interrupt, but..." He motioned to the former professor's head, and then he double-glanced at his papers. "Oh I see... According to your past psyche evaluation from Blackgate Prison, Charles Xavier, you were admitted for murder and when there you..."

Gordon blinked a few times before sinking in the facts in front of him. "You put countless patients and doctors to sleep, in comas, and in emotional trauma. Then, you escaped with Erik, and the two of you were announced missing almost a year ago."

"Daddy's so proud." Magneto gently kissed X's cheek, and X grinned shyly in return.

Gordon raised eyebrows at them and coughed. "Erik Lehnsherr... Unlike your brother... You two are brothers, I assume?"

"Close brothers..." X, formally known as Charles, grabbed Magneto, or Erik's, hand and slowly kissed it.

"You both have a marital status."

"We do go both ways," Charles assured Gordon. His partner shoved him playfully.

"That's not what you told me, Hun."

"Guess you didn't get the memo."

Gordon kept a stony look on his face; it was all child's play to him. He was used to being the professional in awkward introductions between him and criminals, which was what these two appeared to be. There was only one insane man who could push him to the furthest summit, but that crazy wasn't near him most days.

"You were admitted to Blackgate around the same time as Mr. Xavier for murder and vandalism. But unlike Mr. Xavier, you tortured patients and doctors with medical instruments and left them in torturous states."

"I highly doubt that. What I exhibit is challenging work, cop, not pain. Besides, I escaped for the one person who would've driven me mentally insane if I hadn't." Erik squeezed Charles' hand, which still held his.

"And I believe," Charles intervened, "that you, dear, were mentally insane before I even met you." Erik restrained a smile that crept warmly on his lips. His gray-blue eyes turned steely again when they blinked back to Gordon.

"And I believe my husband would like me to have my helmet back."

Once Erik stood up, his shackles withered to dust, and the helmet was his. Gordon reached for the doorknob; thereupon a mind-numbing pain sent him to his knees. Charles stood once Erik freed him from his chains and the helmet that was blocking his connection to vulnerable minds.

_"I wouldn't alert anyone so suddenly."_ Gordon stared fearfully at Charles, whose voice was now clearly in his mind.

"What are you-"?

"We're the Brotherhood, Commissioner Gordon."

"And as entertaining as this has been," Erik teased as he effortlessly used he locked the door behind Gordon and used Charles' shackles to choke Gordon in a deadly grip.

"We're on a business trip, not a vacation. You will take us to Arkham Asylum. We seek to privately consult with Jack Napier."

That was the worst crazy of all. Gordon barely choked out the word "Joker."

"Informally, he is known as this, but yes."

"You... Will..." Gordon forced himself to relax under their intense stares and under the chains. "Not... Unless you go as patients..."

Erik frowned, and the chains tightened around Gordon's neck, bruising flesh. "Then embrace the pains of the mutants... How does it feel, human? You now don't have an upper hand... You're leashed... Like a dog, better, a famished circus animal..."

"Sweetie?" Charles patted Erik's back and smiled brightly at both him and the Commissioner. "Allow me."

In a matter of minutes, Gordon's train of thought vanished, Charles reopened his scarlet red lips to speak, and he remembered nothing else after that.


	4. Beach

Beach

**This is just an alternate scene; what if Charles took Erik back to the Lincoln Memorial?**

"At the Lincoln Memorial we sit- again." Erik glimpsed at the telepath beside him. "Why did you bring me back here? We brought no chess set."

Charles still kept his eyes on the Washington Memorial, reflecting its image over the shimmering Reflecting Pool. The sunset was quite alluring and picturesque that evening and fit in handsomely with the scene. "I want to get married on a beach."

Erik was quiet for a few minutes before uttering, "what?"

Charles tilted his head back, allowing sunlight to stream across his face. "Haven't you ever pondered over the littlest things in life, such as who'll you'll meet, who you'll marry, and where?"

His question was meant to hold some depth, but the former loner did not sense it. Days ago, such goals were mere and superficial ideas. His whole purpose in life was to assassinate Shaw. But once he met and befriended Charles, his entire plan in life altered. Now with this stranger and kids, he had to strategize with and for his brother mutants, defeat the enemy, and then kill Shaw. So, such a question hardly crossed Erik's mind ever.

"I met you." Erik glanced at his friend almost regretfully. "You changed everything." He quickly changed the subject. "Aren't you with that blue blonde?"

Charles giggled a little, and the feminine act caught Erik's attention. The way his hair tousled in daylight...

"Me and Raven! Never! She's far too young! Besides, you and I both know she's too involved with her new friends." Charles broke into more giggles and lazily leaned back in the stair steps. "The severity of my sullen view of this..."

Erik had no idea what the telepath was trying to transmit across. "What is it, Charles? Are you unwell?"

"Oh it's insufferable," Charles confessed, sitting back up. "But, it's no concern of yours. I just want to get married on a beach. Any beach will do."

Abruptly, Erik snorted and stood up. "Maybe you're just insufferable!" Charles' eyes dilated like a kitten's, and one word crossed Erik's mind:

Loving.

"But a wedding on a beach," mused Erik, joining Charles on the steps again in a crouched position. "That does sound charming. Maybe..." Neither man could say what they wanted, not when war was so proximate.

"Maybe..." Charles attempted to finish Erik's thought. "Maybe we can go with the...kids...some day to a beach?"

For a moment, Erik looked absolutely furious at everything, including Charles. Then, he broke into an unexpectedly timid grin.

"Sure, Charles. I- they would like that."

The telepath took the tension away, barely. "Will you wear black again?"

"Only if you wear white," Erik replied without thinking about what he was saying.

Charles smiled sincerely at Erik then the descending sun. "Done."


	5. Sneeze

Sneeze

ACHOO! Mucus splattered across the chessboard, on the pieces, and apparently, on Erik's nose.

"My nose!"

Charles sniffled and acted like noting had happened. "Did you say something, Erik?"

"Don't be cute."

"How can I not be? Giddiness becomes rather attractive and appealing to the eye, especially when the loser stares in awe at the winner." He whooped as he declared, "checkmate!"

Erik scoffed and began slouching in defeat, as Charles stood and put the game away.

"Oh, come now! Look at it this way! Now a teeny tiny piece of my DNA stays with you..." He broke out into a wicked smile and cackle. "Forever!"

"Too much of you have stayed with me, Charles. First: you, second: your team, and now: your mucus. I'm going upstairs."

"Stop ditching!"

"Stop sneezing!"


	6. Married Life

Married Life

Charles knocked hastily on his son's door. "Matthew! Get up!"

Inside the bedroom, a boy with dark brown hair like his Daddy, Charles, and gray-blue eyes like his Father, Erik, groaned and yawned. It was his first day of second grade, and he was already dreading the idea of going. Matthew always had the wildest imagination, and when with the wrong crowd, a small boy could have believed the weirdest of lies. That was Matthew's situation; he was afraid the other kids would throw scissors and mud at him.

In the hall, Charles picked up the basket of the weekly dirty laundry and rapped on his daughter, Kylie's door. "Kylie! That means you, too!"

"Okay, Daddy!" Kylie was up and ready. She was a year older than Matthew. Unlike her younger brother, she had sky blue eyes like Charles and light brown hair like Erik. Also, she was not at all nervous about her first day; she was ready, almost giddy. Today was the day she'd present her show-and-tell item.

Each year on the first day back, children from grades K-12 at their private school, "Bohr Grade School for the Gifted", were allowed to bring objects that represented themselves, their summer vacations, their friends, and/or their family. While her immature little brother decided to bring nothing, she would bring the sample of her Daddy's DNA.

"All I did was borrow it after all," Kylie told herself as she zipped her iguana backpack up with the DNA sample inside. "It's safe on a petri dish after all."

"But not for long!" Matthew had entered her bedroom with only his Superman underwear on. With a mocking mad scientist laugh, he zipped to the kitchen. "I'm gonna tell Daddy and Father!"

"NO," Kylie screamed. "Fanny Snickers will tower over us forever if you don't!"

"It doesn't matter," Matthew crowed as his little legs began to sweat. "She's cuter than you!"

"Take that back, you rodent!"

"Never, ugly!"

Meanwhile, Charles and Erik were arguing about the importance of Cheerios in the house. Erik wanted plain Cheerios; a lifetime supply of it would have pleased him. But, Charles was so hung up on back-to-school shopping for their kids that he picked out Honey Nut Cheerios instead.

"They're just as nutritious," Charles hissed, pouring himself a bowl of cereal. "Everything that tastes sweet is automatically bad to you, Erik!"

"You haven't even tried Cheerios," Erik barked stubbornly. "And that reminds me of our previous quarrel-"

"We do not quarrel. We release stress-"

"I thought we agreed to have the kids driven to school."

Charles grabbed Erik's left hand, the hand that was crushing the Honey Nut Cheerios cereal box. "You know we can't do that anymore."

"We did that last year!"

"That was before Raven moved in with her friends," Charles exclaimed exasperatedly. "We did ponder over driving them ourselves, but with our busy schedules, it can never be done." He reached for his mug of coffee, and Erik did the same for his. "I'll come home to work at home at three. You'll come home at seven, right? You checked with the boss, didn't you?"

"Yes," Erik muttered, sitting down to gulp down the bowl of cereal his husband fixed for him. "But I still think their bus driver is a pedophile."

Charles glared at him without any humor in his eyes. "Erik-"

"Help me!" Matthew landed in Charles' lap, and the proud Daddy broke into a grin.

"Young man, your speed is flawless! I do believe we have a mind reader and a speeder in our home, Father!"

Erik ruffled his son's hair and shared Charles' grin. "Sure do, Daddy!" But as Kylie came into the room, he noticed her crestfallen expression. "Princess, what is it?"

Charles sat Matthew down and used the "magical stare" on his daughter, grinning mischievously and waving his fingers around the side of his head.

"Daddy," Kylie whined, covering her ears and trying to block him out of her mind. "Not the magical stare!"

"You know I never read anybody's mind except when it's fully necessary." He put on a grin full of mischief. "But, dear, I will do it when I have to do it."

"When will you teach me how to block others, Daddy?"

"When you are older." Charles was careful enough to block his own mind. "I know you are powerful, Kylie. But, believe me you. Ninety-five percent of children are not fully capable of blocking other telepaths until they reach the adolescent years. My shield is very weak still, and it's very tiresome on the mind. If you were able to block me out and develop at the speed of the other five percent, you would have done it before you were five years of age."

Kylie nodded and allowed him entrance, unzipping her backpack. After she projected her thoughts to his mind, Charles smiled and rose to hug daughter affectionately.

"You're not angry with me, Daddy?"

"I'm not angry at you. In fact, I admire your curiosity. I was as curious as you when I was your age -"

"Here we go," Erik shouted, munching on another spoonful of cereal.

"But Kylie," Charles sighed. "You mustn't announce today about your father and I both being male parents." Kylie nodded and held up the DNA sample, and Charles gently took it back. "You see, children, your Daddy and Father are just..." He searched his mind for the right word and glanced desperately at Erik.

Erik shrugged and told Kylie, "We're special parents. When you're older, we 'll tell you all about our monotonous genes."

"But for now..." Charles rushed to the oven and retrieved the stacks of syrupy pancakes he flipped and lunches he made. "Eat some breakfast."

"My favorite: pancakes!" Kylie immediately attacked the pancakes with a fork and slobbery mouth. But on the other side of the counter, Matthew sourly gathered his belongings.

"Eat up," his father insisted, wolfing down another spoonful to encourage Matthew. "We've got cereal, thanks to your mother." Charles rolled his eyes as he gave Kylie and Matthew their lunches.

"I'm not hungry."

"Tell us what's wrong then!"

" Erik," Charles warned him from where he sat. "The boy doesn't have to tell you what's wrong, and he can eat this." Charles tantalized Matthew with more pancakes, and the boy finally gave in. Still, Erik was displeased.

"If he doesn't voice out his problems, he'll never learn how to control his anger."

"Says the man who gets worked up over Cheerios."

That did it. The fuse was blown. But just as they were about to butt heads again, Erik heard the bus honks from outside and gathered his children to the front door.

"Go! Go!" Charles joined him at the sill of the doorway.

"Bye, Matthew! Keep your head held high! Kylie, make sure your brother doesn't scrape his knees again!"

As soon as they left, Charles bonked Erik on the head with their daily newspaper, and the married life's ugly side came out again.


	7. The man on the handcar

The man on the handcar

**Warning: I do not own X Men or anything seen here. Please see the XMFC and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" films to understand this.**

Ulysses had been around all kinds of men: short, tall, plump, lanky, grim, happy, no-good, charming, dimwitted, and the list went on. Women just weren't as colorful, always looking for the right loot or the right suitor, which hopefully his dear wife Penny wasn't planning on doing. He did leave her stranded with his gals; he'd admit that. But no matter how angry she was, Ulysses was returning to her. He missed her and his gals.

Behind him were the Fiddle-Dee-Dee twins he had to drag around: Pete and Blank Face, or Delmar. Each of the three men wore their prison uniforms and shackles still after huffing and puffing around miles of cotton fields. Although their escape was successful, Ulysses knew the law always caught up with escapers, and the law would come for them.

"Look!" Delmar sprinted further in the fields. "If y'all just squint your eyes, you'll see the two out there!"

"What two?" Pete stopped his moping and looked spitefully at Delmar. "You're just making up something that ain't there!"

"No he ain't." Ulysses had scanned their surroundings until he saw the two people, probably two men, in the distance. "I see 'em, too. Look up ahead!" Pete's eyes followed Ulysses pointing fingers, and he hazily made out the sight.

"I don't like this."

Ulysses pretended he didn't hear him. "Gentlemen!" He yanked all of them forward, and soon faces were clear, as well as prison uniforms. "So you're from our camp!" That made a bigger runaway group an option and help mandatory. "Then maybe you two could assist us?"

One was almost as blank looking as Delmar, only to Ulysses, Delmar could never pass as good-looking like the fugitive in front of him could. Still, he didn't appear to be a smart one, and his enormous light blue eyes and raven black hair made him look rather childish, femininely childish. Beside him was a slightly taller and sharper looking man with darker blue eyes and a crisp cut of dirt brown hair, probably the leader but definitely the astute one, according to Ulysses.

"Do you know where the nearest train tracks are," asked Ulysses.

"We were just wondering the same thing," the smaller man spoke up. "Where you boys heading off to?"

"We'll tell if y'all do," Pete butted in, receiving a shove from Ulysses.

"Please excuse these impudent rascals. They haven't been exposed to other persons."

"But we sure as hell remember y'all," the taller man taunted. "Let's take short cuts. We need the train tracks, and you need lighter loads."

He was right. The two men didn't have shackles like they did, and the taller one whispered urgently to his companion something about losing their heavy clothing.

Time to flatter. "I'm sure we can come to a compromise-"

"No thank you, Ulysses. We can take it from here without you, Pete, or Delmar."

Just as they started to run off, Delmar shouted, "Ernest? Charley? I shared my lunch with you two!" But before he had already finished his exclamation, they have disappeared into the woods behind them. "I liked Charley, but Ernest scared me."

"He scared everybody." Pete shivered, remembering his glares. "He took no nonsense from nobody, 'cept Charley. They both were stone-faced killers until they met, then Charley grew funny."

Ulysses scratched his chin and resumed to dragging them along. "Well, keep up, men! There's a simple fact you should know: they're both funny, and the scrawny one... She, or I should say "he", never stopped looking at his buddy." He smirked and looked at where they sped off. "They're running off like loonies if they think they can catch any ride there! And that other, Ernie-"

"Ernest," Delmar corrected him.

"Whatever. I heard his real name was Eric, and then I heard it was Ernie. Both were of the same specimen. All loony men are alike."

TOOT! Ulysses' legs acted first, and he clawed the floorboard of one of the train's safe areas. Hobos stared sourly at him, and he tried his best to make conversation, but the two dead weights behind him dragged him down.

After they left the train tracks, Ernest and Charley emerged from the foliage of the woods and tried to catch up with the same train. However, they, too, we're unsuccessful.

"How far should we go to make camp?"

Ernest was silent for several moments, and then a stout black man came down the tracks journeying on a handcar.

"Let's see what this man could do for us." Without hesitation, he hopped on the cart and gestured to Charley. Charley sighed and tagged along, nodding and saying "hello" to the man.

"What may we call you," Ernest wondered.

"I have no name," the man droned. He was blind and didn't look startled or by them. He showed no emotion whatsoever. "I have no story, only a warning."

"That being..."

"Y'all are looking for the Promised Lands."

"Better than this or any kind of hell," Charles replied, nodding and gripping Ernest's hand. "We agrees that's the only place for us."

"Closer than brothers but further than you'd ever want to be, thanks to the law of the lands."

Ernest patted Charley's cheeks then glanced suspiciously at the strange man. "What's it to you," he snapped defensively. "We have our reasons as you have yours, hence why we're goings 'round to have peace."

"I guess y'alls expecting me to tell you to go to the river bend up yonder and past these woods so y'all be safe from the devil."

"And be washed as sinners," Charley groaned. "Let's get off this contraption, Ernest."

"Nah," the man cried. "Nay, you two be sinners like any men be, just like the three men who were just withs me."

Ernest sneered. "Ulysses."

"He who comes with flames for eyes will ask for their names. Give them not, forgive one another, and let your trust takes over."

"That will be all," Ernest curtly told him, signaling for Charley to follow him. Once they returned to the foliage, Ernest almost lost it.

"Stranded in this idea of sin... Why do I feel like everything I'm up against..."? He grasped Charley's hands and pulled him into a hug. "...Is right?"

Charley, unsure how to comfort did, just did what Ernest did. "Let's just find camp... You'll let them all win if we head back or rot here and wait for them."

That night, they made camp, and the devil with flaming eyes came for them with his bloodhound. His henchmen forced Charley under a tree and tied Ernest to another tree to watch.

One henchman tested his whip and held Charley steady. A raspy voice drawled, "Where's the rest of ya?" It was more of a matter-of-fact statement than a question, and Charley took it like dirt as he spat the ground.

"Put that nozzle to good use, "the devil murmured, eyes wandering to Ernest, but Ernest never wavered. He trusted the man on the railroad. And when Charley gave him a questioning look, Ernest nodded and told him, "pray." The nozzle caressed his Charley's cheeks, and soon his. There where it was not a mile from the old railroad, Ernest and Charley kept the three other runaways' travels as another secret from the law. There, they would not stay together in a special grave or burial site. Their trust, the trust they had in one another, took over, and they stayed in the Promised Lands.


	8. Road Trip

Road Trip

Hank inhaled and exhaled out of his lunch bag again. Charles and Erik were fighting again. Raven was telling them to stop again. It was the same story played out on the tedious ride back to the mansion from enemy territory.

"This is what happens, Charles, when I let you drive!"

"You were yawning!"

"I wouldn't have gotten us out in the middle of nowhere!"

"You _said_ to make that exit!"

"You _did_ say to take that exit, Erik." Raven decided to stick up for her surrogate brother for once, yet the defensive gesture was a waste to Erik.

"Raven, shut up. Hank, cut the windpipe and shut up." Hank out away the paper bag. "And Charles-"

"QUIET!" The younger mutant in the driver's seat gripped the stearing wheel and swerved in another lane, barely divining acceptably.

Erik barked testily, "Don't you think-" He received a huge mental slap, laid tiredly against his headrest, chuckled wryly.

"And you kids think _I'm_ pissed off on car rides."

"Shut up, Erik. You're about to take the bloody wheel, whether you like it or not.". The telepath's statement silenced everyone, then Raven eyes boggled at the growling of her own stomach.

"Charles, I'm hungry!"

"And then they all died," Hank mumbled to himself as he retrieved his bag.


	9. What if?

What if?

**What if Erik was such a fake snitch? What if Erik didn't kiss Raven? And, what if Charles was around? **

Hank kept talking, but the graveness in his voice remained. "You have... no idea what I'd give to be..."

"Normal," he and Raven finished the incomplete sentence in synch. They shared shaky laughs, and Raven leaned in closer. They heard footsteps and turned to the hallway. Erik stood with an air of riskiness. Hank's eyes widened like a doe's.

"I'm telling," Erik chirped. It sounded funny, coming from the man who apparently murdered and was out for his "creator". His presence was unsettling, but the two teens managed to laugh again.

"Hello, Erik." Raven stood up, but Erik's smirk dissolved, and he strode further in the hall.

"He wouldn't."

"Of course not, Hank. He's kidding."

"CHARLES! I've got news for you!" They exchanged fretful glances and dashed after Erik.

A few days later, Erik shut his bedroom door and caught a glimpse of golden hair and wrinkled bed sheets. Then, he saw her playful grin.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise." He smiled to humor Raven but frowned as soon as she grew more comfortable. "You're too young to go to bed." Waving a finger at her, Erik approached the minibar for a sip or two of scotch.

"Maybe in a few years..." Erik didn't take his own suggestion seriously, given he was too busy wondering if he should have told Charles about the chemistry he saw between Raven and Hank.

There was the faintest gust of wind, and Raven asked seductively, "how about now?" Her typical disguise was replaced by an older version of her, a fitting version of her, but Erik still wasn't interested.

"Would you get out of my bed, please? Some of us want sleep." He saw her smile fall and shoulders droop, and he felt a bit guilty. He didn't want to shamelessly stir trouble about a bunch of sexual tension, but tomorrow was the mutant's doomsday. There was so much to think about, to consider, before the slightest chance of a global implosion.

"Fine." He slammed his scotch down without thinking and started walking out to another room. "I can always ask Hank if he has more room in the lab-"

Another gust a familiar masculine voice cried, "Erik?"

His shoulders tensed on the way out. He willed his feet to continue moving, but they submitted to the tension and froze. "Nice try, Raven."

"These sheets are very cold, you know." "He" blew a lock of darkish brown hair off "his" brow, and Erik shuddered and reluctantly tried to distract himself with the bedroom's nearest panes.

"Erik!" Raven shifted to her original form. "I know I'm being insincere, but this- I- I don't know if I can..."

"It takes one knife to slay the beast." Erik sat on the bed, offering her some scotch, but she politely declined. "A knife and a hand to cut it to pieces. But any more than that, and your army is pieced together. You'll be fine with us. I've known you only since... A few days it has been. Nevertheless, I see a passion that should defy all insecurities, in you, Charles, and the rest of you."

"Especially Charles." Raven lightly punched him and giggled.

"Heh, sure. Get dressed and go to your bed. We have much to do tomorrow."

"Pass me that robe please."

Erik did so and once she left, the metal-bender marched to the next room on his left: the kitchen.

"How long have you been out there?" Charles opened the refrigerator as he made an entrance.

"A few minutes. Thank you, Erik."

"We have been through much mendacity, Charles. She needed the confidence." Erik sat down facing Charles, and the telepath soon joined him with two cups of tea on top of saucers. "It should be me thanking you, by the way."

Charles sipped his tea until he suggestively murmured, "is it true, then? That my company at night would be pleasing?"

"Don't spoil the moment." He stood up and ruffled the telepath's hair. "Good night, Charles."

"No kiss?"

"No." Erik was still grinning after he exited the kitchen.


	10. My Angel

My Angel

**Post XMFC**

The first time he saw him he fainted, quite messily. He was already suffering from injuries after his encounters with Shaw. The next time wasn't a smooth sail either. Humans blocked his entrance. A bother, and ruining his suit and denting his helmet. Then came the three teens he once stood by.

"Remove yourselves from my entrance," Erik demanded. "I can no longer give you the mercy you, or any mutant for that matter, rightfully deserves."

Alex approached him first, not even bothering to mask his fury. "Leave at once! We don't want you around upsetting him more than you have then!"

"I performed in a selfless and justly manner."

"You performed like an asshole!" Hank, the enraged beast, held Erik's neck in a deadly grip, wanting to draw blood from his veins with his claws. But, he knew that would only make the situation worse.

Erik concentrated on a nurse's tray abundant with utensils and dishes and a few coins, and forced the coins to smack Beast. Breaking free, he made a beeline to his destination, partially regretting to see blue eyes shut by sleep. But at the last minute, Sean and Alex grabbed his legs and yanked him away. Erik managed to bite Sean's fingers, able to draw blood. The metallic taste energized the mutant to slap one of his own and whistle for Azazel.

After he whistled, Azazel popped in with Mystique, Riptide, and Angel. Beast attacked Azazel and Riptide, Mystique fought Alex, and Angel and Sean flew simultaneously to take their battle outside. All the while, Erik zipped to the certain room.

Just as Erik entered, he collapsed beside the bed. His brother still slept, hair drenched with perspiration and skin clammy with his fatal blows. Blows they may have been, Erik knew the telepath was stronger than what the doctors thought him to be. Of course, he'd be injured, but that wouldn't impair him to "perform any dangerous, risk-taking, or life-threatening stunts". A threatening life was the only life a true mutant had, not any mutant choosing acceptance over independence. Erik knew that better than anybody.

"I didn't mean for you to be a causality." He paced around the small white room, listening for any intruders. "You and I though are of different breeds entirely. You out of comfort, stability..." Erik pulled up the chair beside the bedside and settled in it. "Me out of all the evils and revenge...

Ideally you were another man, but you're not. There's always a chance of redemption, of returning to your family." Erik fastened a sort of *trinket to Charles' left wrist and checked his own beeping one on his right wrist. "Just so we're in touch..."

He met shut eyelids again and swallowed air. "We, er, never associated with oaths until now, my brother. We...my brother..." A body from outside slammed on the door, but Erik didn't bother to check. He was caught again, feeling lightheaded again.

"Charles, what have you done?" He cupped Charles' lifeless hands. "Your hands are cold," he noted, "and stiff...Please at least reach my mind again." He hesitantly removed his helmet. "-And speak to me again from there! Yell! Curse! It's been weeks, Charles!"

He took a very, very slow breath and collected himself before he found his voice. "I need an answer. I cannot rescue Emma Frost without your answer. Join us, or you... I won't leave you again."

Erik felt his legs grow numb, and he stood up, almost splitting the chair in half after he threw it across the room. The past weeks have been unbearable. Resources in the Brotherhood's headquarters have slowly become scarce. And, his vision of freedom wasn't only disappearing in reality. The days he spent with Charles haunted him in every waking dream, not the Charles he knew, but a vicious Charles feeding off his guilt. His memories were out for him once again, and day by day, his true feelings slowly narrowed into one truth; he needed Charles with him if he was going to continue his vision.

"Wake up! I'm sorry-"

"Erik?" He heard Mystique calling for him outside Charles' room. "We need to hurry. Sean has alerted the CIA, and Angel can barely distract him from getting more help. Good news is that the rest of them fled."

"Be right there! Shuffling back to the bed, Erik marveled how peacefully Charles slept. "You'd make a lovely woman," he teased, then frowned. "Charles, at the beach, did you...want to tell me something?"

Nothing. Erik felt the salty streams he never showed since Shaw shot his mother. "When I leave this room, you'll see me tolerate these humans no more. And Charles..." The words were disgusting in his mouth, but they held all he had left to give. "I care about you... In fact, I love you...More than any mutant I've ever met, more than you should know."

The faintest ghost of a whisper reached Erik's ears. "Erik? Is that you?"

Erik smirked and kissed Charles's left wrist and trinket. "Yes, Charles. I'm right here."

"And do you really love me? Tell me, Erik! Do you?"

The tears fell faster, cohesively thickening against trembling cheeks and pink flesh. His voice was like the tweeting and twittering of an injured bird, and Erik tried to imagine the mute and asleep telepath in front of him with that beaten spirit, but he couldn't.

Erik's intentions were so vivid now he didn't know how to keep his composure. The dam leaked. "Charles, I do! I do! When I said I wanted you by my side, I damn well meant it!" The rest of the Brotherhood members rushed into the room, but it was Mystique who stopped them. She had to watch Erik when he was with her brother, regardless of how much she trusted him now.

"Then return to your side. We are past that point."

"But Charles!" Erik was in hysterics now, shivering and holding the man, uncaring of his comatose state and condition, and yet gentle enough. Once he saw his team approach them, Erik allowed them to haul him away, a safe distance from Charles. But as he nodded for them to depart, Erik projected, "do you love me?"

The Brotherhood fought crowd after crowd of nurses and doctors and stray humans. It wasn't until Erik lead them to headquarters that he received his answer. A voice, no longer weak or scratchy, told him softly, "I do love you, but what I want is togetherness. What you want is freedom. We'd never want nor appreciate the same thing."


	11. Beautiful caves

Beautiful caves

**AU Prequel of the first X-Men movies **

"The humans have evolved since 1962," Professor X stated confidently. "I'll repeat this assertion when I see you again. I guarantee it."

The man on the other line pierced the professor's eardrum at first, but as he spoke, his deep voice grew softer. "Don't bother repeating ideal beliefs! I know humans have changed day by day. People, in general, be it humans or mutants, change day by day. But, what hasn't changed is what the humans fear the most: what they can't control. _Because _we're uncontrollable, humans will never accept us as their equals. And until they do accept us, we must stay together-"

"-As brothers," The elderly professor finished for him tiredly. This was the fortieth time he'd said this. "Aren't we afraid of the uncontrollable as well, and the unknown?" His question brought their conversing to a halt until Charles restarted it equivocally.

"Well said, my friend. However, you worry me so. We are in our seventies now. What do you propose will convince me to overpower innocent people?"

If Magneto didn't feel so exhausted during their quarrel, he would have spoke in a less drained voice that subtly implied he should hang up on his enemy. But, Professor X was never an intentional enemy. To Mangeto, the world was comprised of three kinds of mutants: those who stood for themselves such as him, those who stood for destruction purposefully such as Sebastian Shaw, and those who stood for destruction without knowing they were. Charles was the pitiful epitome of the latter.

The word he uttered and the conception behind it was far too tempting to the Brotherhood leader for his friend to understand. "Revenge." But no matter how much the slippery and dangerous the abstract idea was, its silhouette suited the professor better than no idea at all. And although he'd never admit it, he thought about the idea if concreted.

Professor X heard a CLANK from the other end of the line, and he gasped. "Erik!" Unbeknownst by Erik, his husband was clinging to the diamond on his ring finger. And without him knowing, Erik smiled sadly as he cried out his name.

"Erik… Your voice is so raspy."

And, his name sounded pleasant and soothing, but to admit that would be admitting their "divorce" was unnecessary, maybe even a wicked ploy.

"I'm coming for you, Charles." His promise would have assuaged Charles, had they been legally wedded allies and not secretly eloped foes.

"You still have the ring, don't you?" Charles nodded but didn't say "yes".

"And you?"

"Yes."

Charles heard the faintest sound of a coin hitting a surface, reverberating, but didn't say anything. Then, Erik spoke again.

"Don't lose that ring."

Charles snickered, admiring the ring with its rigid texture and synthetic glow, and whispered, "It's beautiful."

"You're beautiful, Charles." That was it. They hung up in harmony, two halves never meant to fit. That was the last time for themselves and the first time for others. The X-Men and the Brotherhood would no longer hide.


End file.
